Colorado Opioid Overdose Deaths Increased In 2017: CDC

ACROSS COLORADO – More than 72,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses in 2017, according to preliminary estimates released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week. The CDC cautions that the figures are an underestimate because of deaths for which an official cause remains pending.

Analysis by The New York Times says that figure represents a 10 percent increase in opioid overdose deaths compared to 2016. A significant number of the overdose deaths were reported to be caused by fentanyl, with the CDC estimates attributing nearly 30,000 deaths in 2017 to the synthetic opioid. That represents a sharp increase over 2016, when just over 20,000 overdose deaths were reported to be caused by fentanyl.

The CDC figures are released every month. The data released this week includes figures for December 2017, which provides a first-time look at the year as a whole.

In Colorado, the number of opioid overdose deaths reported increased 7.7 percent in 2017, compared to 2016. The CDC’s figures show there were 1,052 opioid overdose deaths in Colorado in 2017, an increase of 75 overdose deaths compared to 2016.

More opioid deaths may be ahead in 2018 after the closing of Thornton-based safety-net operation Arapahoe House, which served more than 5,000 of the poorest patients with substance abuse problems in 13 metro-Denver locations. It's unclear where those patients have gone for treatment, and whether more deaths and serious medical events have resulted from the closing of the organization.

Massachusetts and Vermont, which are among states that have been hit hard by the crisis, reported a year-over-year decrease in overdose deaths, the CDC data shows. Preliminary data for overdose deaths in the 12-month period ending in January 2018 also shows a decrease in Rhode Island.

Fentanyl is a particularly deadly opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. The CDC says the sharp rise in fentanyl-related deaths is likely due to illegal fentanyl sold in the streets.

At a cabinet meeting on Thursday, President Donald Trump said he’s directing Attorney General Jeff Sessions to file a federal lawsuit against certain companies that supply and manufacture opioids. Trump said he's directing Sessions to file a separate lawsuit, rather than joining existing lawsuits filed by states affected by the spread of the often-lethal, highly-addictive drugs.

It was not immediately clear if or when a federal suit would be filed. A barrage of suits have been filed nationwide against distributors and manufacturers in recent months amid the opioid epidemic.

By Feroze Dhanoa, Patch National Staff . Reporting from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Image via Shutterstock

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